State of the Union? State of Your Soul?

On Wednesday evening, President Obama did want U.S. Presidents do every year in the middle of January. He delivered a "State of the Union" address to both houses of Congress and to the American people at large. In this address, the President gives his assessment of just where he believes our nation is ... both its strengths and weaknesses ... and then outlines a strategy to move forward to fix the nation's problems. My purpose in this posting is not to evaluate the President's performance - their are many more capable people who have done that. But what I do want to do is to encourage you (and me) to use this speech to remind ourselves that we need, from time to time, to take "time out" from the busyness of life to assess the state of our souls!

Look. We live in a very busy ... and a very noisy world. And technology is constantly making our world noisier and busier (case in point: Apple's introduction this week of their new I-Pad which is promising a new way to interact with media information that is now available ... just at the tap of a finger!). If we are not careful, our soul will become so hard pressed by all this information and noise - that the spiritual life will get squeezed out (and our souls will look like a grape that has lost all its moisture - and in case you don't know what a "moistureless" grape looks like - think RAISIN).

All this to say that all of us would benefit and benefit much by heeding the counsel that Jesus gave to His disciples as they were in the midst of a very busy ministry. In Mark 6:31 we read, "Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'"

Many of us need to do just that. To find a quiet place. To get some rest. And, with the help of God, to take stock of the state of our souls (to help you do this, go to the following link: http://www.thetransformingcenter.org/pdf/soul09.pdf. Although this is for pastoral/ministry leaders, I believe the questions Ruth Barton gives here would be a help for any believer who desires to assess the state of their soul.).

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj